{"id":932841,"date":"2026-07-13T21:41:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/932841\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T21:41:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:41:20","slug":"state-unveils-new-toolkit-for-ny-educators-and-parents-to-tackle-student-cannabis-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/932841\/","title":{"rendered":"State unveils new toolkit for NY educators and parents to tackle student cannabis use"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

In the five years since New York legalized cannabis, educators across the city have seen an uptick in student marijuana use spilling into the school day<\/a> and grappled with how to respond.<\/p>\n

As smoke shops proliferated, teens had more access to potent products, and some used cannabis to self-medicate mental health challenges that spiked in the wake of the pandemic, educators previously told Chalkbeat. Many educators said they felt ill-equipped to respond to students using cannabis during school or showing up high to class.<\/p>\n

Now, a new set of educational resources developed by the state\u2019s Office of Cannabis Management could help fill that gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we heard when we brought together everyone from school nurses to superintendents to assistant superintendents, to principals, to teachers \u2026 everyone asked for resources,\u201d said Lyla Hunt, the director of public health and education at the state\u2019s cannabis management office. They wanted to understand the cannabis landscape post-legalization, saying, \u201c\u2018We need that information in order to better serve the people we serve.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The education program, called Cannabis Honestly<\/a>, is geared toward young people and trusted adults in their lives trying to navigate a murky cannabis landscape. The resources, released on Monday, are based on 23 listening sessions with roughly 450 young people and caregivers throughout the state who shared their experience with cannabis and what kind of information they wanted.<\/p>\n

Researchers found that many teens were still confused about some basic facts, with roughly a third incorrectly guessing the legal age of cannabis consumption in New York. (It\u2019s 21.) Both young people and adults also expressed confusion about how to distinguish between sanctioned cannabis products and illicit ones. The materials point out that legal shops will have a QR code near the door to verify the store is licensed and will have the state logo on product packaging.<\/p>\n

When asked why young people were turning to cannabis, youth participants overwhelmingly pointed to mental health challenges, with 85% of the young people surveyed raising it as an issue. Roughly 60% said they believed cannabis served a medicinal purpose, the listening sessions found.<\/p>\n

We’re on a need-to-know basis.<\/p>\n

Every weekday morning, Chalkbeat New York is bringing thousands of subscribers the news on public schools and education policy that they need to start their day. Sign up for our free newsletter to join them.<\/p>\n

More than half of the teens who participated also said they wanted a clearer understanding of how cannabis affects the brain and body. And they were clear in telling researchers that an education campaign that came across as too-heavy handed or moralizing would fall flat.<\/p>\n

The educational materials include sections directly aimed at youth through a mix of comic-style graphics with frequently asked questions and blurbs, along with short videos. A section called \u201cWeed 101\u201d explains that using products with a higher concentration of THC can raise the risk of \u201cgreening out,\u201d or getting so high that it triggers intense anxiety and physical side effects.<\/p>\n

Other sections address the myths that people can\u2019t get addicted to cannabis and that most teens are using the drug. In fact, roughly 17 of 20 teens across the state say they\u2019re not using weed, according to the guidance.<\/p>\n

The materials also include a choose-your-own-adventure-style interactive guide for how to have a conversation with a teenager about cannabis and resources designed specifically for parents who use the drug themselves. <\/p>\n

The resources are available in English and Spanish and are available in print versions for free at the state\u2019s cannabis education library<\/a>. Hunt said these are exactly the types of materials that school counselors can have on hand when they have to call a parent about student cannabis use. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the parent goes home, they can continue to have the conversation,\u201d Hunt said. \u201cBut also to support [the counselor] as they\u2019re having that conversation as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":932842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,1749,26217,376205,1230,376204,38469,66167,40981,166237,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,26922,376203,66956,25671,130,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-932841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-cannabis","tag-cbd","tag-drug-education","tag-drugs","tag-education-campaign","tag-euphoria","tag-fairs","tag-getty-editorial","tag-joint","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-plants","tag-smoking-pot","tag-stoner","tag-teenagers","tag-trade","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116914847099110709","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}